Assistant Professor
227 St. John's College
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 2N2
(204) 474-9089
Academic Backgound
Ph.D University of British Columbia
M.A. University of Victoria
B.Hum University of Victoria
Teaching Interests
2012-2013
GEOG 3250 Energy and Society
My research lies at the intersection of environmental geography and political ecology and develops a cultural and historical approach. Over the past few years I examined a series of resource development conflicts in northwest BC, a region that is currently the site of intense mining exploration and controversy over energy projects. I situate the current conflicts against the legacies of previous megaprojects -- both failed and realized -- to understand their social and environmental side effects as well as their legacies for future developments. By analyzing the compounding effects of state planning, environmental assessment, technological expertise, scientific data management, corporate enterprise and popular debate, I argue that institutional factors, development controversies and environmental debates change the discourse of nature, both locally and in metropolitan contexts and set some of the terms of environmental change.
My current research is on the policy implications of northern energy infrastructure megaprojects in subarctic North America. This project asks how envisioned northern energy projects influence the course of North American energy policy. This work is northern in focus but will place the north in relation to broader continental energy policy and geopolitics. I also plan to develop a focused project on the socio-environmental impacts associated with hydraulic fracturing technology in northern BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan as oil and gas companies increasingly turn to the production of shale and other unconventional gases.
Research Interests
Environmental and Social Geographies of subarctic North America; Megaprojects; Energy Politics and Policy; Mining; Resource Conflict; Environmental History/Historical Geography; Political Ecology; Nature and Culture in Canada; the Politics of Environmental Assessment.
Selected Publications
Jonathan Peyton, “Corporate Ecology: B.C Hydro's Stikine-Iskut Project the Unbuilt Environment” Journal of Historical Geography 37.3 (July 2011): 358-369.
doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2011.01.006
Jonathan Peyton, “Imbricated Geographies of Conservation and Consumption in the Stikine Plateau,” Environment and History 17.4 (November 2011): 555-581.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096734011X13150366551571
Jonathan Peyton and Robert L. A. Hancock, “Anthropology, State Formation, and Hegemonic Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, 1910-1939” Native Studies Review 17.1 (2008): 45-69.
